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The parents and a grandmother of Caleb "Kai" Lawrence McGillivary, the 24-year-old drifter arrested in Philadelphia last week in connection with the killing of a 73-year-old North Jersey man, spoke this week of a troubled young man with years of behavioral and mental-health problems, hospital visits, treatment, and possible abuse.

A histrionic, post-hippie hero of sorts, whose colorful account of intervening in an assault on a woman in California turned him into an Internet celebrity four months ago, McGillivary presents himself as a "home-free" sprite.

But his family, in separate interviews with The Inquirer, painted a darker and more complex picture.

Drawing more notice this week are McGillivary's own words. In a now-chilling interview with California radio station KSLG in March that was posted Tuesday as part of a montage on YouTube by a supporter, McGillivary, who last week implied that he was drugged and raped by his alleged victim in New Jersey, says he was raped at 17, felt violated by a defense attorney, and started having fights with people he perceived as bullies.

"I realized I'd never let something like that happen to me again," he said. "I'd rather die than let something like that happen to me again."

In the viral February post that gave him a taste of cyberfame, in which he described hitting an attacker on the head with a hatchet, McGillivary claimed he was from West Virginia and did not have family.

"As far as anybody I grew up with is concerned, I'm already dead," he said.

Now it is known that he is from Canada, where relatives say they care about him.

McGillivary's father, Gil, 57, who is studying to become an aircraft technician and who lives in Ontario, said that from about ages 9 to 18, his eldest son lived at a medical residential facility in Alberta. The website of that facility says its services include providing help to people with mental, behavioral, or psychiatric difficulties. Gil McGillivary said his son told him he suffered physical abuse while there.

"I do believe he has post-traumatic stress," said Gil McGillivary, who described his son as a gifted musician with "a big heart."

He said he and Caleb's mother broke up when the boy was about 4. Both have remarried, and the father has three children from his current marriage.

Gil McGillivary said that he last saw his son during a Christmas visit a couple of years ago, but they had lost touch. He said he e-mailed his son after the famous video on YouTube, glad to see him as a hero. He said he wrote to his son to offer hope that the publicity would help his music career.

He said Caleb posted on Facebook that he wanted nothing to do with his father.

Gil McGillivary said he would like to help his son, but "I'm not a rich man." He said he was trying to stave off eviction but had been having conversations about his son online and was monitoring sites, including one with an online petition seeking his son's release.

Mary Ann McGillivary, 80, Caleb's paternal grandmother, told The Inquirer that her grandson had a rough childhood but was "a very good boy" to her.

"He said, 'When I have the money, I'm going to live with you. I'll get us a place,' " she said.

In an Inquirer interview, Shirley Stromberg, the accused's mother, who lives on a farm in Alberta, expressed concern for her son, saying, "I believe no matter what . . . decisions we make in our lives, we are entitled to dignity."

She said she had never heard that her son was abused in residential treatment. Of his mental or behavioral health, she said, "Caleb has had issues for years."

The day before the young McGillivary met Joseph Galfy, the North Jersey man he is accused of killing, he posted a long message on Facebook alleging parental abuse including forced cold showers, being hit with spoons and sticks, and prolonged timeouts. Most of the accusations were aimed at "a woman, self-declared 'mother,' " but also mention a man's role.

He made similar accusations during his interview with KSLG's John Matthews.

Stromberg, in an interview with the Newark Star-Ledger this week, denied her son's claims and said they were a product of his mood disorders. She also said she had not been in touch with him for some time.

In a separate interview, Ross Stromberg, Shirley Stromberg's husband and a Canadian government employee, said his wife was a good person and mother. He said Caleb was intelligent and creative, and "an important person in our family."

The Union County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment on the relatives' statements. Caleb McGillivary, who is accused of fatally bludgeoning Galfy in his Clark home, is held without bail in Philadelphia, pending extradition to New Jersey.

As of late Wednesday, the online petition seeking freedom for McGillivary had 88 signatures. A site started by another supporter to raise $3 million for his defense claimed to have collected $797

Officials would not say whether they believe Caleb McGillvary was attempting to commit suicide.

Posted by Jessica Remo (Editor) , July 26, 2013 at 05:58 AM

Accused killer Caleb McGillvary, better known as Kai the Hitchhiker, has been returned to the Union County Jail after he was rushed to the hospital last week when he was found with self-inflicted wounds, a county official confirmed.

McGillvary was found wounded in his jail cell on the morning of July 17. "Shortly after 5:10 a.m. Caleb McGillvary was transported from the Union County Jail to an area hospital with self-inflicted, non-life threatening injuries," County Spokesman Seb D'Elia told Patch after the incident. "He has been since transported to another medical facility where he is under guard by Sheriff’s Officers."

Officials would not say whether they believe McGillvary was attempting to commit suicide and no further information about his injuries has been released.

Dbl post - using this empty post for background again. This is an older article that gives more detail re the police version -

They met, an unlikely pair, in Times Square last Saturday night.

One, a 73-year-old partner in a Rahway law firm and member of his hometown’s Chamber of Commerce, the other a 24-year-old itinerant with long hair and a penchant for upturning convention that had landed him a minor internet presence.

Their rendezvous, most of it later spent in and around Joseph Galfy Jr.’s ranch-style house on Starlite Drive in Clark, would last about 24 hours, until sometime Sunday evening when, authorities said, their encounter turned violent after a sexual tryst.

On Monday afternoon, Galfy, a partner at Kochanski, Baron and Galfy, was found dead in his bed, severely beaten, clothed only in underwear and socks, Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow said yesterday.

Detectives later determined Caleb Lawrence McGillvary, better known by his online persona, "Kai the Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker," had killed the man who was more than three times his age.

At around 6:30 Thursday, McGillvary was arrested at the Greyhound Bus Terminal in Philadelphia by members of the Philadelphia Police Department, and has been charged in Galfy’s death, Romankow said in a statement.

McGillvary will be processed in Philadelphia and returned to New Jersey in the coming days, Romankow said. Bail was previously set at $3 million and he will be lodged in the Union County Jail in Elizabeth, he said.

During the earlier news conference in Elizabeth, Romankow did not indicate how authorities came to suspect McGillvary, who he said should be considered "armed and dangerous." Romankow also said authorities don’t yet know how the two came to meet in Times Square.

They returned to Galfy’s home, detectives determined, where McGillvary spent the night. Romankow said Galfy, the attorney for the Green Brook land use board, drove McGillvary to the Rahway Train station Sunday morning, from where the younger man left for Asbury Park.

McGillvary returned to Rahway later in the day. After exchanging text messages, Galfy picked him up and brought him back to his house.

Romankow said the killing happened sometime that evening.

In a Facebook entry Tuesday, McGillvary, posting under the name Caleb Kai Lawrence Yodhehwawheh, intimates he was drugged and sexually assaulted, but does not say where or when the incident took place.

"what would you do if you woke up with a groggy head, metallic taste in your mouth, in a strangers house ... and started wretching, realizing that someone had drugged (and) raped ... you? what would you do?" the post reads.

Romankow called the post "pretty much self-serving."

An autopsy completed Tuesday determined Galfy died of blunt force trauma, the prosecutor said. He declined to comment on what was used to beat Galfy or say if anything was take from the house.

He did say the killing, "was thought out."

"He’s been known to use the back of a hatchet," Romankow said, a reference to McGillvary’s stopping a deadly attack earlier this year in California by pummeling a man with his hatchet, an event that gained McGillvary internet notoriety.

After killing Galfy, the prosecutor said, McGillvary called a woman, whom Romankow identified only identify as "Fan 1," asking her to pick him up. She couldn’t.

McGillvary later returned to the train station and again traveled to Asbury Park, where he and the woman met for lunch on Monday.

Does anyone think they'd have described the events prior to the murder as "a sexual tryst" if it was a female of that age alleging sexual assault against a much older attorney?

The man who gained nationwide celebrity status on social media as 'Kai the hatchet-weilding hitchiker' today pleaded not guilty to a charge of killing a 73-year-old lawyer in the victim's New Jersey home in May. Caleb McGillivary, 24 - who shot to online infamy in February after a TV interview went viral - stood silent during his arraignment before Superior Court Judge Joseph Donohue. McGillivary's attorney, Union County Public Defender Peter Liguori, filed the not guilty plea to the charge of murder in the beating death of Joseph Galfy, according to Nj.com Liguori said he could not comment on the case, but acknowledged that McGillivary is feeling better than he did shortly after his arrest.

'He's doing better than he was a couple of months ago,' Liguori said. In July, McGillivary was rushed from the Union County jail in Elizabeth to a hospital for treatment of self-inflicted wounds following an apparent suicide attempt. He was later returned to the jail. McGillivary is suspected of beating Galfy, a partner in a Rahway law firm, in Galfy's home on May 12, about 24 hours after the two met in Manhattan's Times Square, authorities have said, following a sexual tryst. McGillivary is said to have gone to Galfy's home and stayed the night. The next day Galfy, the attorney for the Green Brook land use board, drove McGillvary to the Rahway Train station, from where the younger man left for Asbury Park. McGillvary returned to Rahway later in the day. After exchanging text messages, Galfy picked him up and brought him back to his house. Police allege the killing happened sometime that evening. The next day, Monday May 13, police went to Galfy's home after he did not show up for work or answer his phone. They found Galfy dead in his bed, wearing only underwear and socks. Authorities say McGillivary beat Galfy, then left for Asbury Park and later headed to Philadelphia with a friend. On May 14, McGillivary, who is originally from Canada, wrote a post on his Facebook page intimating he was drugged and sexually assaulted, but did not say where or when. The post read: 'what would you do if you woke up with a groggy head, metallic taste in your mouth, in a strangers house ... and started wretching, realizing that someone had drugged (and) raped ... you? what would you do.'

Fibro Fog has taken over. I am in a constant state of dyscognition so please excuse my retardation.'The worst things in the world are justified by belief'- Raised by Wolves SOI

"Your life is short, it's the longest thing you'll ever do/ the worse the curse was that your dreams came true/
God is a mirror in which each man sees himself/ Hell is place where you don't need anyone's help"
~You got to cry with out weeping. Talk without speaking
Scream without raising your voice~

The whole thing makes me really sad. I honestly believe the guy has been sexually abused before and when some freaker tried to take advantage of him, he snapped.

I agree with that too. This poor guy has been shuffled around since he was a kid and just left up for grabs for anyone to abuse along the way. He had no one to protect him. It sounds like his family just didn't want to be burdened with a child that had mental issues. So they dumped him off in an institution. Dogs are treated better then this guy was. I would absolutely be beside myself if my child was just wandering aimlessly and me knowing he had mental issues and not knowing where he was.

Last edited by queenaevadamthng; 05-03-2014 at 08:28 PM.

"Theoretical physics can prove that an elephant can hang from a cliff with its tail tied to a daisy. But use your eyes, your common sense".... JIM GARRISON

The wipeout that rendered “Kai the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker” an accused killer was as sudden and spectacular as a swell breaking along Hawaii’s Banzai Pipeline.

One day, the freewheeling drifter was a folk hero for the digital age, a dude who clobbered a maniac with an axe, then offered the world a profanity-laced retelling of the story, which was deftly captured on YouTube. The next, Kai—a 24-year-old whose real name is Caleb Lawrence McGillvary—was a man wanted for murder in New Jersey, a brute who prosecutors say beat a 73-year-old man to death during a weekend romp. (Kai, who nearly slept on my couch two days before the alleged incident, says the victim drugged and raped him.)

All told, Kai’s righteous wave of Internet fame lasted nearly four months. And then, like all great tales ordained by the Internet, it was plainly forgotten by most. But not by all. Since Kai’s arrest in May, a number of die-hard fans have gathered in a corner of cyberspace to celebrate their hero’s sauntering spirit. And they’re doing everything they can to keep that spirit—and Kai himself—alive. Supporters have flown from Las Vegas and Europe to visit Kai behind bars.

They’ve written letters to him, donated books and shelled out $25 bucks for 15-minute phone calls. They’ve plastered “Free Kai” posters around cities, painted his portrait with watercolors and dressed up as the hitchhiker for Halloween. “I didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” says Terry Ratliff, who launched the “Kai the Hitchhiker Legal Support Page” on Facebook. “But there’s no turning back now.”

Like most of the group’s current 2,051 members, Ratliff never actually met Kai, but felt the two had an immediate connection. A beat maker and music producer in Kingsland, Georgia, Ratliff had produced a YouTube remix of Kai’s viral interview back in February. Afterward, the two started exchanging regular emails. Ratliff saw a few videos of Kai playing guitar and singing songs. Soon, they were talking about collaborating on a music project together. “I saw his potential,” Ratliff says. “He was a talented individual.”

atliff later sent money to Kai. He invited the budding Internet celebrity to come crash with him and his family in Georgia. Kai never made it. Authorities hauled the hitchhiker on May 16 from a Greyhound bus station in Philadelphia. He was charged with beating Joseph Galfy Jr., a New Jersey lawyer, to death after the two allegedly met in Manhattan’s Times Square. Galfy was found dead in his home, wearing only his socks and underwear.

The same day that cops cuffed Kai, Ratliff launched the Facebook page. That night a Temple University student started another Facebook page called “Free Caleb ‘Kai’ McGillvary From Prosecution by the U.S. Justice System,” a private group that now has 983 members. And a movement, of sorts, was born.

Over the last seven months, members in each group have hosted fundraisers, organized events and kept a growing number of supporters involved in Kai’s cause. He has received dozens of visitors (including one from Finland) at the Union County Jail in Elizabeth, New Jersey, along with postcards, books and phone calls.

Fans celebrated his 25th birthday in September, threw a Kai costume contest for Halloween, and are currently stocking his commissary full of cash for Christmas. Since he was indicted by a grand jury for murder on Nov. 13, fans have been posting photographs from Kai’s childhood each time someone donates to his legal defense fund. So far, roughly 90 donors have given more than $4,700.

eanwhile, Kai’s words continue to reach the outside world. In a series of phone calls recorded by Ratliff, Kai has performed songs, told stories about his former adventures as a “home-free” soul and maintained his innocence.

“This prison system needs to be abolished, along with the enslaved mind-set that it breeds,” Kai said in one of his so-called shout-outs. “No living person is meant to be locked in a cage.”

Shane Dixon Kavanaugh is a reporter with The Oregonian in Portland. His previous work has appeared in the New York Daily News, Crain’s New York, The New York Times and Consequence of Sound.

This is all sweet and good and I hope that Kai gets the help and support he needs. I just think it's sad that nobody gave two shits about this kid or the countless others that are out wandering around. They are like stray pets that the owners decided were too much trouble, so they tossed them out. If someone would have been there when this kid was in need, we wouldn't be here now, would we?

I think in this case, like so many others, you have a kid with mental issues who basically has no one in the world. They want so much for someone to care. This makes them easy targets because they can't distinguish the difference between an act of kindness or a ruse to take advantage of them. Predators smell this on them like a shark would smell blood in the water.

Last edited by queenaevadamthng; 05-04-2014 at 01:27 PM.

"Theoretical physics can prove that an elephant can hang from a cliff with its tail tied to a daisy. But use your eyes, your common sense".... JIM GARRISON

In other pics you can see the shit and crap all over his nasty ass face. I guess he wasn't expecting one of Katies relatives to be in the same prison. HA!!

Godspeed, Katie

Fibro Fog has taken over. I am in a constant state of dyscognition so please excuse my retardation.'The worst things in the world are justified by belief'- Raised by Wolves SOI

"Your life is short, it's the longest thing you'll ever do/ the worse the curse was that your dreams came true/
God is a mirror in which each man sees himself/ Hell is place where you don't need anyone's help"
~You got to cry with out weeping. Talk without speaking
Scream without raising your voice~

In the viral YouTube video that propelled him to a measure of fame, the disheveled itinerant dubbed "Kai the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker" describes himself as a "home-free" surfer and musician with roots in West Virginia.

"I don’t have any family," he tells a television reporter after describing how he stopped an attack on a utility worker in Fresno, Calif., by striking the assailant with an ax. "As far as anyone I grew up with is concerned, I’m already dead."

But 24-year-old Caleb McGillivary, as he is legally known, isn’t from West Virginia. He was born and raised in Canada, where his estranged parents reacted with horror to the allegations their son fatally bludgeoned a 73-year-old New Jersey lawyer, Joseph Galfy, last week.

In their first interviews since McGillivary’s arrest in Philadelphia Thursday night, the parents told The Star-Ledger their son has long struggled with behavioral problems and spent years in hospitals and treatment homes.

"Caleb had a real tough life," said Gil McGillivary, 57, a former probation officer who lives in Hawkesbury, Ontario. He and Caleb McGillivary’s mother, Shirley, divorced when their son was 4.

"He was in treatment homes until he turned 18 and then they cut him loose and washed their hands of him," Gil McGillivary said. "Caleb made accusations that he was physically and mentally abused at one of the homes. The system let my son down."

The suspect’s mother, who spoke on the condition her last name be withheld, acknowledged her son’s behavior problems but disputed his father’s claim that he has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He graduated from high school, Shirley said, and took college classes. As a little boy, she said, he was a "delight."

She said she hasn’t spoken to her son since last fall. At the time, he was still living in Canada. She said she does not know how or when her son illegally crossed the border to travel around the States.

She wept while watching McGillivary’s notorious television interview, which was uploaded to YouTube in February and swiftly drew several hundred thousand hits. Since the arrest, the number of views has climbed to nearly 4 million

Shirley, who lives on a farm in St. Paul, Alberta, said her son’s claim his family didn’t care about him isn’t true.

"He has a family that misses him," she said. "He has a family that loves him. There have been some attempts, but we have no way of contacting him. He knows my number. My number hasn’t changed. If he calls and wants our help, we’re there for him."

McGillivary has been in a Pennsylvania jail, held without bail, since he was arrested Thursday at a Philadelphia bus station. The Union County Prosecutor’s Office is seeking to extradite him to New Jersey, where he will face murder charges in the death of Galfy, a Clark resident and partner in a Rahway law firm.

The two met by chance in Times Square May 11, then returned to Galfy’s home, Prosecutor Theodore Romankow has said. McGillivary allegedly beat Galfy to death Sunday evening.

Authorities have not released a motive. In a Facebook post, McGillivary claimed he was drugged and sexually assaulted, but did not provide specifics. Romankow has called the comment "self-serving."

On May 10, McGillivary wrote a disturbing Mother’s Day essay on his Facebook wall in which he alleged that he was beaten by family members from the age of 2 and locked alone in a room for 20 hours a day. When he acted out, according to the essay, he was hit with brooms and pushed into cold showers.

His mother said the claims are untrue and the essay was a manifestation of her son’s mood disorders. She said she did not want to elaborate on the nature of his behavioral health issues.

In a YouTube video posted yesterday by a Kai supporter, there is a montage of archived interview clips in which McGillivary describes his troubled past and states that he was raped at age 17.

Meanwhile, a petition called "Free Kai Caleb Lawrence" has been created on Change.org.

"It’s innocent until proven guilty," Gil McGillivary said about his son. "Where’s the murder weapon? When did it happen? These are the questions that boggle my mind."

He said he was stunned when he first heard his son’s name in connection with the killing.

"I tried to put Caleb on the straight-and-narrow growing up, but this situation here, I can only tell him I still love him. He’s been wandering around lost because he hasn’t given his life to the Lord."

Gil McGillivary said that prior to his divorce, he and his son spent time together camping, attending air shows and going for motorcycle rides.

"He loved to play guitar and play the drums at the music stores. He was a really talented musician.

That was his dream, I thought, to be a rock star."

Gil McGillivary lost custody of his son after the divorce. He said the boy spent his teen and preteen years hospitalized for behavioral problems.

He said he last saw his son in December 2010. "He showed up to the door unannounced to spend Christmas with us," said the father, who is remarried with two daughters and a son.

"When Caleb came over here, he wanted me to run away with him to have some sort of father-son relationship.

"I believe that Caleb didn’t like the fact that I remarried, that I didn’t rescue him from the treatment home, that I have three kids from my present wife," Gil McGillivary said. "But my children, they love their brother, and they’re shocked at what has happened."

The father said he last spoke to his son in February after the television interview went viral.

"Caleb didn’t want to have anything to do with me," he said. "He thought I was trying to get into the public notoriety of his rise to fame because of being his dad. That wasn’t the way it was going to happen, but I respected his wishes because he’s an adult."

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In the span of a few months in 2013, Caleb McGillvary went from being an off-kilter hero and darling of late-night TV and viral videos to a suspected murderer, in jail and awaiting trial in New Jersey.

Now, after five years, "Kai the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker" may finally get his day in court. According to his lawyer, John G. Cito, the trial is expected to begin the first week in January.

As a recap: McGillvary gained national attention (and the nickname) after saving two people in a stranger-than-fiction encounter in Fresno. There was video. It went viral.

He spent several weeks after that living as a kind of pseudo-celebrity before dropping off the radar.

When he reappeared, it was in handcuffs in New Jersey, arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of a 73-year-old lawyer named Joseph Galfy.

The case was salacious; McGillvary claimed in a Facebook post written around the time of his arrest that he had been drugged and sexually assaulted. The case has also been slow to proceed, marked by a suicide attempt, a written plea to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and multiple suits and motions against authorities in which McGillvary claimed that investigators destroyed and/or failed to collect evidence in his case.

Only recently, in a final round of discovery, did his attorney receive the additional documents and computer files he needed for the trial to proceed. McGillvary has been well apprised of the delays along the way, Cito says.

"He's not happy about it, but he knows it's necessary to properly prove his innocence at trial."

To that point, Cito believes his client will be exonerated.

McGillvary has always maintained his innocence, claiming he acted in self-defense. Using lethal force in defending sexual assault is justified under New Jersey law, Cito says.

"He did respond with the appropriate force to stop the attack."

Since his arrest, McGillvary has gained a core of supporters who follow the case (and McGillvary's musings on life) via social media. Early on, supporters created a GoFundMe campaign and a petition on Change.org. There's an "official" Youtube page and a Kai the Hitchhiker Legal Support Page on Facebook, where supporters can get updates on the case and donate supplies to McGillvary in jail.

According to the page's "about" section, it "was created by Kai's request so that his supporters have a space to support him." A previous support page was deleted by the administrator.

Other supporters have been more direct, Cito says, even sending clothes for McGillvary to wear at his trial.

Caleb McGillivary, perhaps better known as "Kai the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker" — the backpacking surfer-turned-internet phenomenon — is now a convicted murderer.

On Wednesday, McGillivary, 30, a Canadian citizen, was convicted of first degree murder in the killing of New Jersey lawyer Joseph Galfy, who was beaten to death in 2013. McGillivary, who allegedly met Galfy over beers in New York’s Times Square, according to Union County investigators, was crashing at the New Jersey man’s home in Clark, where police later discovered his body.

But since his arrest roughly six years ago, McGillivary claimed that Galfy drugged and sexually assaulted him — and that he killed the 73-year-old military veteran in self-defense. But police, McGillivary said, either covered up that evidence or ignored it.

“[Galfy] sustained numerous serious blunt-force injuries to his face, head, neck, chest, and arms, including three skull fractures, four broken ribs, and severe contusions, abrasions, and bleeding — injuries that contradicted McGillvary’s self-defense claim,” according to a Office of the Union County Prosecutor press release.

“This was a brutal, vicious, senseless crime, and we are pleased that the interests of justice have been served,” added prosecutor Michael Monahan.

Meanwhile, however, McGillivary allegedly called the ruling a "false conviction,” and vowed it “will be overturned” in a statement posted to one of his Facebook fan pages, adding his case was “railroaded” by his own defense team.

“We have been documenting everything and already have more than enough instances of misconduct, abuse of discretion, and ineffectiveness of defense counsel to overturn this false conviction and get a new trial,” he allegedly wrote.